UC San Diego

Kyle Donnelly said during the first week of classes, "Our job is to make you unfireable." After three years of training I have gathered that the tools needed to become unfireable consist of three major traits: skill, efficiency, and control. The three traits overlap just as a Venn diagram, and that central sweet spot is the place we all strive for. There are shortcomings within us all, and the three traits rest differently in everyone.

8 hours a day for two and a half years we have built skills, from voice to dance we accumulated a set of skills that have prepared us for the world ahead. These skills make us unique and desirable.

Efficiency is of our own accord, unlike skill; no one can give us the ability to be efficient. We need to come to class prepared, be on time for rehearsal, and implement the skills we have gained from class in collaboration with the directors' concept in an efficient manner so time isn't wasted. Efficiency also deals with the ability to maintain our instruments through a learned technique (skills).

The last obstacle to tackle, which in my opinion may be the most challenging, is control. To become an unfireable actor you need to develop an intimate understanding of control: when you need to seize or relinquish it.